In Seeking Firearms Deal, Spitzer May Set Standard''

By BARRY MEIER

Published: July 22, 1999

If New York's State Attorney General, Eliot L. Spitzer, sues the gun industry as he has threatened, he will simply join a long line of 23 cities and counties that have already done so.

But if Mr. Spitzer succeeds in striking a deal with some firearms producers over issues like the way they monitor gun distribution, then New York will score a first that could set a national standard.

There is no assurance that the talks Mr. Spitzer began recently with two gun makers and a trade group will succeed, and one person involved in the talks said he expected them to move ahead or to collapse quickly. And in the broadest sense, the New York talks may prove to be only another in a series of stillborn efforts to settle the growing wave of lawsuits against gun makers.

Still, officials in other cities who have sued the gun industry said yesterday they were pleased because the talks might lead to a break in that logjam of litigation.

''I think it is a positive sign that some members of the gun industry are willing to talk,'' said Louise Renne, the city attorney of San Francisco, which along with more than a dozen California cities sued gun makers this spring.

Most of the suits accuse gun companies of negligently marketing guns by failing to impose proper control over distributors and dealers. As a result, those lawsuits charge, guns easily fall into criminal hands. Gun makers have denied the charges.

The New York lawsuit has yet to be filed. But under discussion in the talks are a number of moves aimed at tightening how guns are marketed and sold.

One proposal long championed by some gun control advocates would involve the appointment of an independent monitor, either by a court or through an agreement between the state and the industry, who would review the distribution of guns.

That monitor would then identify companies, distributors and dealers who were failing to keep guns from being sold to people planning to resell them to criminals or other prohibited buyers like teen-agers.

Mr. Spitzer's office is also pressing makers to start test-firing their guns before they ship them, then submit the cartridge casings and bullets to the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the agency that regulates the manufacture and sale of weapons.

The agency could then use the unique markings on those casings and bullets to identify a gun used in a crime.

The talks apparently began in recent days when Mr. Spitzer's office contacted Colt's Manufacturing, one of the country's largest firearms producers. Richard Esposito, a consultant to Colt's, said the ''company had been invited to a meeting'' with Mr. Spitzer.

From there, an industry trade group, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, was brought in because Colt's felt it was inappropriate for one company to talk separately with Mr. Spitzer, according to two people, one who took part in the talks and one who had been briefed about them. Robert Delfay, the president of the group, has declined to confirm or deny that a meeting with Mr. Spitzer took place.

A representative of Smith & Wesson, the largest gun maker in the country, also met with Mr. Spitzer's aides, said one person who had been briefed about the talks. Kenneth Jorgensen, a spokesman for the firearms producer, said he was not aware that anyone at the company had talked with Mr. Spitzer.

John Coale, a lawyer in Washington who is involved with five cities suing gun makers, including New Orleans and Bridgeport, Conn., said he believed that Mr. Spitzer's talks would be important only if they produce some agreement, since some of the issues in the New York talks have already been the subject of failed discussions between his group and gun industry representatives.

As recently as 10 days ago, for example, Mr. Coale said he met with Mr. Delfay, the president of the industry trade group, to discuss settlement-related issues.

''We have been looking at the issue of global talks and how to get everybody in the same room,'' Mr. Coale said. The agenda included issues like better distribution controls and tighter oversight on how many guns a customer can buy each day.

Mr. Coale also said one gun maker, Glock Inc., was moving close to adopting the type of bullet tracing system that Mr. Spitzer was proposing all gun makers adopt.

In a telephone interview, Mr. Delfay acknowledged that those talks had taken place. Paul Jannuzzo, a lawyer for Glock, did not return a phone call seeking comment.

One hurdle to an overall settlement with the industry is that even if some larger manufacturers like Colt's decide to settle claims, smaller companies might prefer bankruptcy.

Earlier settlement talks have faltered when they were opposed by gun groups like the National Rifle Association. Yesterday, Jim Manoun, a spokesman, said it would be premature for the association to comment on the New York talks.